Centre for Instructional Technology Updates and Newsletter

Menu

CIT February 2018 Newsletter

LumiNUS Alpha is here

NUS students and staff are familiar with IVLE, which has been a part of campus life since 1999. Soon, this will change. A new learning management system (LMS), LumiNUS, will be launched.

Over the course of the next two years, LumiNUS will become the place for teaching and learning online in NUS. This will be a significant change for the entire campus community. As such, CIT has phased the LumiNUS rollout over several semesters.

Why a new LMS?

IVLE has been indispensable to thousands of students and staff over the years, but it has grown long in the tooth. To support teaching and learning effectively, CIT has had to redesign the LMS from the ground up. Unlike previous IVLE upgrades and refreshes, this one is a clean break from the past.

Why LumiNUS?

While the tools look familiar, LumiNUS is significantly different from IVLE. This necessitated a new name. LumiNUS alludes to luminous, which is defined as giving off light, or bright and shining. We hope that LumiNUS helps to light students' educational path in NUS.

Timeline

AY 17/18 S2: LumiNUS Alpha.

AY 18/19: LumiNUS Beta, IVLE runs concurrently.

AY 19/20: LumiNUS, IVLE becomes read-only.

Date to be determined: IVLE taken offline.

What to expect?

Currently, LumiNUS is in closed Alpha. This is meant as a preview of what to expect once LumiNUS becomes available. The Alpha is limited to staff and students who have signed up. It is not meant for actual teaching and learning use. There may be a second Alpha phase, which will expand access to the wider NUS community.

In the coming months, you can expect face-to-face and online seminars which will introduce you to LumiNUS. Monthly updates will go deeper into some of the new and improved features in LumiNUS. We are also working on a series of workshops.

When LumiNUS launches in Beta, before AY 18/19, academic staff will have to choose whether to use IVLE for a while longer or to switch immediately to LumiNUS. In the coming months, we will provide more details so that you can make an informed choice. Barring unforeseen circumstances, everyone will be on board LumiNUS before the start of AY 19/20.